EVERYONE HAS A CHOICE

My wife and I went shopping yesterday at an outlet mall. When we got home, we spoke about our purchases and how happy we were with our choices of goodies.

This got us talking about our buying habits in general. What we buy, how much we are prepared to pay and why we actually buy what we buy. We spoke about our general expenses and started to list them.

Along with rent, health and car insurance, groceries and other essentials the topic of our spending at the gym was mentioned. We came to the conclusion that although our gym expenditure was quite high, we felt that it was worth the investment. By going to the gym and keeping ourselves healthy, we are in fact “banking” our health going forward. Later in life, we are hoping not to be in the hospital with potential heart problems, diabetes, and other ailments, costing large amounts of money. Instead, we hope to be active late into our lives by keeping healthy.

If you brush your teeth and take the time to floss on a daily basis, you are cutting down the potential problems in the future. Since I got into the habit of flossing, my dentist has been much happier with my teeth and even thinks that I have saved a potential tooth from root canal and all the procedures and corrections that go with a damaged tooth, which in turn has saved thousands of dollars. With this in mind, the old story of prevention versus correction cannot be ignored.

Another example in our lives is our Mattress. We decided not to scrimp on a mattress. We got the best and most comfortable mattress we could afford. If you think about it, a mattress’ lifespan is about 10 years. You sleep every night on it, hopefully at least 8 hours. If you paid $1000 for it, it equates to $100 a year. If you get a bad night’s sleep, how well do you actually function? What are the long-term health impacts of poor sleep and back issues?

In terms of our lives, take the time to answer this question. Would you rather take a vitamin every day or a painkiller on rare occasions? Would you rather have 6 absolutely crazy months at work and 6 months of cruising OR 12 months of constant workload which was neither easy or difficult?

We all have choices. Now take this same logic and look at your finances.

Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Do you always spend what you have? Do you save any money for a rainy day? Do you have credit and store card debt? Can you account for what you have spent your money on?

All these answers are personal to you. If you are struggling with money, it generally is a money management problem. There is a wealth of knowledge out there through blogs, financial advisors, financial games and much more. It is simply down to you, to be willing to accept that you are not financially in shape and choose your “gym” of choice.

If you have savings and are doing a great job with your money, is it actually working hard enough for you?

These are questions that you should be asking yourself. Money is around us. We use it every day and it is OK to talk about it. What are you going to do?